Album Review: Leprous – Melodies of Atonement (InsideOutMusic)

Contemporary rock and progressive Norwegian outfit Leprous return with ‘Melodies of Atonement’, their 8th studio album. Out on August 30th, 2024, via InsideOutMusic.

Are you hoping for some of those inimitable Leprous anthemic sounds? Hoping for some progressive ideas that challenge the mind? Expecting something wholly unique that only this iconic band could create? If so, good news, Melodies of Atonement does provide all of this and more, finding the band in a confident place and more than willing to flex their experimental muscles.

Something that is clear from the start with the delightfully likable Silently Walking Alone. A grand start that has a poppier structure ensuring it’s incredibly memorable, especially that chorus. Even still, there’s plenty of weird and wonderful aspects to this track, and it ends up feeling quite epic.

It’s a very early indicator of this album’s unpredictable nature, but also an early sign of its infectious nature. This might be one of the more accessible Leprous records to date, even while it offers up so much discombobulating elements. No further proof of all of this needed once the ears have been subjected to Atonement and My Specter. A word like ‘enthralling’ does come to mind.

Offering up some troubled harmony with the dramatic ballad-like track I Hear the Sirens, Leprous pour the emotion on thickly, but not to the point where it starts to smother. It’s an attractive listen that highlights the power in the vocals. Before the pace is quicken with the oddity that is Like a Sunken Ship, Leprous finding new ways to push the experimental aspects of their sound into poppier locales for even more widespread appeal. Then, it just heavies up, and in spectacular style.

It’s here, at the halfway point, that many will make their mind up about what they’re hearing. Those long-term Leprous fans will feel right at home, but the naysayers aren’t necessarily going to have their minds changed.

Who cares though! Melodies of Atonement is all about bringing the new and old together, and when things continue to be inherently and intriguingly weird, as they are on Limbo, it’s going to be very successful.

One of the constantly impressive aspects of this record is Leprous’ melodic development over a track’s runtime, and the likes of Faceless, Starlight, and Self-Satisfied Lullaby continue to show just how evolved this aspect of their sound is now. Although be under no false illusions, as mellow and harmonious as Leprous can be here, their incredible ability to rise up to heftier and more passionate levels is unparalleled and unignorable.

Which, happily, ensures the finale of Unfree my Soul goes out with a bang. A rich and enigmatic melodic bang. Leprous have done it again. Crafted something that could only ever be them, that could only come from their imaginations, and could only be played by a band with their abilities.

Leprous – Melodies of Atonement Track Listing:

1. Silently Walking Alone
2. Atonement
3. My Specter
4. I Hear the Sirens
5. Like A Sunken Ship
6. Limbo
7. Faceless
8. Starlight
9. Self-Satisfied Lullaby
10. Unfree My Soul

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